Kotov Syndrome
by keito-kyokun
Summary: 'Foundations' SLASH HoroxRen A high school fic, set after the events of Shaman King a childhood game HoroHoro and Ren are best friends, but things are about to get a lot more interesting...BTW, HOW COME ONLY 1/30 PPL THAT READ STORIES ACTUALLY REVIEW?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 01

"Hey, remember when we used to play that game when we were kids?"

Ren looked up from his book after a moment, arching an eyebrow and glancing at his best friend over thin-rimmed gold spectacles.

"Remember when we actually did our homework?" Ren's eyes fell absently back to his book. God, he hated calculus. "Y'know, when we were kids."

HoroHoro grinned apathetically from his space on the floor, history work lying abandoned on the short coffee table. Ren was seemingly taking little notice of the boy, sat idly in one corner of the sofa with one hand under his chin as he unabashedly studied a worn hardback textbook.

"Ah relax, will you? We have like, two weeks till study leave begins. And then some before any actual exams." The boy watched for some response. Ren ignored him. "…besides, it's not like you should be worried, you've not failed a class in your life."

Ren made a non-descript 'hm' sound in what appeared to be agreement before leafing over a yellowed page and studying it with the same bored expression. HoroHoro rolled his eyes tediously around the room, chewing gently on his lip. Finding little else to lend his interest, his focus fell back on his studious friend and a lazy smirk dawned across his features.

"Shame we don't play that Shaman thing anymore, as I recall I rather enjoyed whooping your butt every other day – come to think of it, I can kinda see why you wouldn't want to talk about it. It's ok, I mean, I'd be embarrassed too if I'd got beat so many-"

The boy was cut off by a sudden flying textbook as it ricocheted off his shoulder and onto the floor. He laughed good-naturedly at Ren who now sat with his lips pursed, glaring at him in a vibrant but none-too-serious way. He never lost.

"Heh, you know I'm just kidding you." Horo grinned, gathering the book and the several pages that had fallen out from it upon collision with his ultra-manly muscles and placing it on top of his work.

"I could barely stand you back then." He heard Ren's voice wander absently and he turned to face him, considering.

"Was that all because of this?" Horo gestured avidly to his shock of winter-sky-blue hair. Ah yes, Ren remembered. Superiorly slipping off his reading glasses he gently tossed his own dark hair, making it glint a loud purple where it caught the light.

"Hm. You just dyed yours because you looked up to me. Had it been someone else I may have taken the compliment."

The blue-head pouted a frown in the boy's direction. Man he hated it when Ren went on one of his ego trips.

"Whoa whoa, hold on a sec – look _up_ to you? Why my dearest Ren, I doubt anyone besides Manta has been able to do _that_ since kindergarten. Heh, go figure! I always thought you were compensating for something with that great big cone- oomph!"

This time HoroHoro was cut off as the boy physically launched himself at him, knocking him to the floor and weighing him down, fists clutched round his t-shirt collar as sparks flew from Ren's eyes. _Musta ran out of books…_

"How the bloody well dare you-"

"I know, I know-"

"-you brainless twit-"

"I-know-that-was-completely-out-of-line-and-I'm-really-really-very-sorry!" Horo garbled out, his eyes clenched shut and grimacing slightly; maybe it was the fact that Ren had been punctuating each syllable by wrangling the other boy's collar so hard he could barely breathe, but for some reason Horo felt an overwhelming need to reprimand his statement. Squinting open one eye as the pounding in his head subsided Horo was faced with a very pissed off Ren.

Sitting on top of him.

Ergo, no chance of escape.

The blue-head swallowed uneasily and briefly wondered how the sparks bolting from Ren's eyes had as of yet failed to start a fire. Sighing he carefully took hold of Ren's wrists, tactfully trying to pry them away to a safe distance from his all-too-consciously exposed throat. He didn't really think the boy had it in him to murder, but hey, better be safe than-

"I'm sorry. You know I didn't mean it, you were just being all boring and doing" Horo made a face in distaste, "_work_."

Ren narrowed his eyes a final time before sighing and settling back to a slightly less imposing distance from Horo's bare throat. After all, being best friends with the blue-haired idiot meant that tussles like this were a pretty frequent occurrence. Resting his eyes back on the bluenette's he noticed that they were looking back up at his hair in consideration, as though studying a painting and trying to decide whether or not they approved. Ren was about to narrow his eyes again when Horo's seemed to reach a conclusion.

"It's so different now. I like it." Reaching up with one hand and leaning back on an elbow, Horo's hand gently touched over Ren's hair. Rather than the old solid 'cone' it was now fashioned in a far more agreeable collection of slightly shorter spikes, which Horo thought suited the boy much better.

Snapping out of his apparent trance, Horo met Ren's vaguely amused gaze and lowered his hand to rest back on both elbows.

Seconds ticked by.

Horo tentatively bit his lip again and tilted his head a little to the side, thinking.

"Hey Ren?"

"Hm?"

"Mind if I try something?" Ren was giving him a plain look that betrayed no answer, but HoroHoro took it for a go-ahead all the same. He was already raising himself forward with one hand and reaching out with the other.

"Purely…" his hand moved, "…in…the…" cupping Ren's cheek, "…interest…" drawing closer, "…of…" he never finished.

His lips met Ren's in the softest of brushes, both boys pressing so gently into the kiss as though afraid of it shattering.

Pulling apart carefully, each appeared to gauge the other's reaction. Ren's cheeks were tinted ever so slightly with pink, but HoroHoro thought that maybe the only reason he noticed was because his own face was still hovering only millimetres away. As if they both reached some same conclusion, they delved into each other again.

This time Horo's hand slipped round to the back of Ren's neck as his other hand circled round to rest low on his back, while Ren's in return gripped at the material across each of Horo's shoulders.

Leaning back Horo drew Ren with him, pulling him closer with both arms circling him, the digits of one hand beginning to edge slowly beneath the lining of his shirt. Ren stiffened momentarily against him, then wriggled slightly to shake the wandering hand away. Horo obliged and the kiss continued – but a moment later Ren felt the hand at the base of his back again, riding up his shirt.

"No really Horo, quit it…"

"Hah, don't tell me you really _were_ compensating for-" uh-oh. Horo felt Ren still and looked up sheepishly to meet a fiery glare. "Uh, Ren-"

"That's it."

"What!? I'm sorry, I was kidding!"

But Ren had already stood up abruptly and strode purposefully toward the door, grabbing hold of his violet messenger bag along the way. Horo called out again but his only reply was the door slamming shut decisively.

"Ren…"

HoroHoro frowned and sighed simultaneously, feeling a great deal more irritable than he had done for a long time. Throwing himself down on his sofa he swept his feet onto the table, sweeping his and Ren's books unceremoniously to the floor as he grabbed for the remote.

Suddenly he felt as though they were playing that dumb Shaman game all over again.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 02

"So?"

"So, that's pretty much it," Horo knocked his head off his locker door one final time before collapsing back against it, meeting his friends amused eyes. "And _why_ aren't you shocked by all this?"

Yoh Asakura shrugged. "Well you two have been pretty close for years now, why should I be?"

"Um…because we're both guys?"

Yoh's eyes widened. "Oh. Ohhh…" He rubbed the back of his neck tentatively, still looking somewhat perturbed by this sudden epiphany. "I hadn't thought of it like that." He admitted.

Horo's eyebrows hit the ceiling just as his jaw dropped to the floor. "You hadn't— how could you _not_??"

Yoh shrugged and returned to his usual 'eyes-half-lidded' mannerism, absently lifting books one by one from the stack in his arms to the ever-growing stack in his locker. Horo always found it incredulous that the boy kept so many books about him, particularly as he never seemed to actually read.

"Well, you are always together and stuff… I don't know. You two seem to just fit." He explained, "Besides, it's pretty hard to imagine Ren with anyone else."

Its true that since first moving to Japan Ren had spent the vast majority of his time with the blue-haired boy (only of course, at the time of his arrival Horo's hair had been a rather impressive platinum blonde), despite openly hating him throughout the first year or so of his stay. Yoh suppressed a shudder upon realising that he had unintentionally imagined the pair in each other's arms gazing at each other in a sickeningly sincere fashion. He began flicking purposefully through his last textbook (chemistry) to try and displace the image. "And as for you, I know you had that thing with Tamao-"

Horo rolled his eyes. He had begun seeing Tamao Tamamura a year earlier, and that 'relationship' lasted for a total of maybe a month. To call it a relationship seems a bit of a farce really; perhaps more of a mutual agreement from which both parties were to benefit – the strawberry blonde girl could worm her way closer to Yoh, while Horo could effectively deny to the world that he was asexual.

"-but…yeah. I mean if things crashed and burned with the one girl you actually get along with, then y'know, maybe you are…erm…'that way'."

"Thanks mate." Horo patted his friend on the shoulder as he flicked closed the locker and the pair began a slow sort of meander to their first class. "Speaking of which, how are things with…"

He let the sentence hang and Yoh lolled his tongue out of his mouth in a bored manner before replying. "S'alright. She's peppy and happy and pretty as usual."

Horo laughed.

"It can't be all that bad, man. Would you really rather be seeing, I don't know, someone neurotically possessive, bossy, _fiendishly_ clever…"

He watched Yoh's eyes darken. The boy had been 'going steady' with Anna Kyoyama for over a year and a half before she realised that she could perhaps do better; and better in Yoh's book apparently meant older and harsher, since within a day of their break-up she had shifted to Hao Asakura. From that day on Yoh's grades had embarked upon a steady decline and an increasing amount of his time was spent at his or someone else's home playing video games; it wasn't because he was depressed (even though to an extent he was; depressed and pissed off and angry), it was because he was lazy – and not having Anna there to constantly berate him for slacking off had made this flaw in his character all the more evident. Since the break-up Yoh had granted Tamao's greatest ambition by letting her cling to his arm for a large portion of every day and letting her call herself his 'darling' since really, he had nothing better to do. Yoh sighed with exasperation.

"I'd be mad to want something like that wouldn't I?"

"…so…you think the whole 'me and Ren' thing could actually work?"

"Why not?" Yoh shrugged and indicated at the air near his left shoulder with a flat hand. "It's a height thing."

Horo looked genuinely bewildered.

"The guy's got to be taller than the girl. Now, how many girls do you know that are shorter than Ren?"

"…You're crazy. You know that?"

"Exactly. Same height, maybe; I suppose that could be a little dangerous. But unless he starts window shopping the first-years, I reckon you're good to go!" Yoh grinned and gave Horo an enthusiastic thumbs up. Horo just nodded back in a grim manner, as though some terrible truth had just been confirmed for him. Yoh continued, nonplussed. "That's why Manta's had a total of zero girlfriends over the past" he considered, "...seventeen years. _It's all in the presentation._"

"Right. So it has nothing at all to do with him practically living in the library these days?"

"It has everything to do with that!" Yoh leaned in towards Horo and spoke in a hushed voice as if bestowing upon him some great lump of logic. "_Do you really think he'd be doing that if he had a girlfriend?_"

By this point Horo had all but resigned himself to the fact that, yes, his friend had indeed finally lost what shreds of sanity had been granted to him up till this point and simply walked with him to the shut door of their classroom. They were after all at least ten minutes late by this time.

"What about you and Anna then?"

Yoh's eyes darkened again before he smiled ruefully.

"Kind of gives me an excuse at least, doesn't it?"

Horo followed him vaguely into the class. He guessed Yoh thought 'taller' meant better too.

* * *

Most of the rest of the day passed fairly without incident. There were the usual lessons, with the usual inevitable run in with Anna (since she shared all their classes) which put Yoh in an on-and-off bad mood for about an hour, which served to distract Horo nicely from what would usually be a literature class of distracting Ren and bugging him for help, which at the moment Horo was too chicken (as Yoh put it) to attempt. Consequently both break and lunch time were then spent with Manta in the library trying desperately to complete the essay which everyone else actually _had_ done in class and which had been due in that morning. 

By the time last lesson rolled about Yoh was once more bored and agitated, having borne witness to a fight between Anna and Hao in one of the hallways; on the one hand he was glad that the pair were finally reaching some rocks in their 'relationship' but his other larger hand was insisting that that should have been _him_ having books hurled at him in that dangerously cute manner. Sighing in his usual manner Yoh departed with Horo (Manta always missed physical education lessons due to some carefully forged and fragile medical condition he picked up sometime last term) for their last arduous class of the day.

* * *

"Asakura, swap out! Maou I want you in his position. And for God's sake, get a hair cut!" 

"ROGER!" Yoh bellowed across the pitch at the big-muscled muscle-brained PE instructor who was already ignoring him. He'd been transferred in around the same as Yoh's class started at the school and none of them had ever bothered to learn his name, referring to him simply as 'fat bastard' or something more colourful when the occasion called for it. Trotting over to a bench lining the school field Yoh greeted the wiry-framed boy already sat there with hearty enthusiasm whilst trying to catch his breath.

Ren exhaled in distaste as Yoh practically threw himself onto the bench spread eagle. One leg crossed over the other he neatly shimmied further down the seat away from the panting boy.

"Good morning, Yoh."

"What's the score? Our team's winning, right?"

Ren had been first on the rota that day and thus was swapped out ten minutes into the game, leaving him sat still outside in the middle of October wearing only the school's thin kit of white shorts and whiter jersey. He was bloody freezing.

"_My_ team is winning." He nodded curtly in the direction of the opposition's goal, "Horo just scored another point."

Yoh followed Ren's gaze to the blue-topped figure running figure eights around the far side of the field, his arms raised in victory. Mouthing a small 'Ohhh' to himself and rolling his eyes Yoh leaned back craftily.

"You know…" he began, a little too purposefully, "Horo's one of our best players. Best stamina by far, what with the amount of exercise he does…"

Receiving a soft 'hmm' of agreement Yoh cast a sidelong glance at the purple-haired boy. His eyes were still trained calmly on the game.

"Shame he doesn't put as much effort into his academic studies."

"Well, uh, who needs to, really? I mean, with a body like _that_…"

Immediately Ren torpedoed him with a deadly glare while Yoh did his very best to look in the opposite direction in his most non-challant fashion. It didn't work.

"He _told_ you, didn't he!"

Yoh looked back at the seething boy, half amused by how high his voice went when he was aggravated and half fearing for his life at Ren's whole murderous demeanour. Leaning away he rubbed the back of his neck, ready to spring to his feet and _run_ at a moment's notice if (or when) the need arose.

"…little bit."

Ren physically growled. Yoh shrunk back.

"See! This is precisely the sort of thing I hate about-"

"Tao!" _Thank you, God_. Yoh turned to see the instructor beckoning with one bear-sized hand in their general direction. Luckily, Ren had risen to his feet amidst his undisguised rage (probably to attack Yoh) and inadvertently reminded the man he was to be switched back in to the game. "You're up!"

Not glancing back even when Yoh called cheerily after him that they'd "talk about this later, alright?" Ren stormed up the field. Over the next ten minutes Yoh was pleasantly surprised to find his team strolling comfortably into the lead, and looked up several times from his conversation with his new, significantly less murderous bench-mate to witness Horo Horo clutching at his various appendages in pain as Ren stood villainously glaring at him and being reprimanded yet again against using 'friendly fire'.

* * *

_Hey there! Authoress here. Thanks for reading this, I'd just like to apologise because I seem to be shifting styles a lot lately; I'll try to remain consistent though, alright? Now that you've read, please review - even if it's one word, I'd still really appreciate the feedback! This will be updated soon, but for now, thank you and adios_ : ) 


	3. Chapter 3

From 27/May/07

Chapter 03

Yoh Asakura leant back, his elbows resting idly on a workbench stationed at the northern most wall of the art room. He could tell this was the case as it was nearing three o'clock in the afternoon, and he was being blinded on one side by the relentless stream of sunlight emanating from the window to his right. And just the fact that he had been standing there long enough to work this out was indicative of just how very bored he was. He hated art.

For the past five minutes the boy had been occupying himself with watching his blue-haired friend's clumsy attempts at a reconciliation with Ren. Within these five minutes he had seen Horo 'accidentally' shoved or stabbed with a paintbrush at least four times in trying to approach the boy who, besides the occasional glare, appeared to be ignoring his best friend completely.

"_Tsk tsk_, it's rude to snoop on troubled marriages, don't you know."

Yoh snapped out of his trance and turned to face his brother with an intelligent 'huh?'. He hadn't noticed him approach but it was common knowledge that he moved like a ninja, so the boy was hardly surprised. He didn't even bother to ask why he was in his lesson in the first place. Man, he was tired.

"I'm not too late for the make-up sex am I?"

Ok, now _that_ got Yoh's attention. He turned to his brother uncertainly and with some alarm.

"What— um, you…care to explain how you…?"

"Know that spiky and the blue kid are looking to make like bunnies? Well, besides you just confirming it the mating display is sort of hard to miss." Hao observed with a smile as Ren hurled a scrumpled up paper towel straight at Horo's face, crossing his arms and turning back to his work stubbornly when the bluehead scowled at him. "It's like they're in kindergarten or something, isn't it?"

"Point taken…" Yoh conceded, settling back into a comfy slouch against the workbench. He and Hao did not have a smooth relationship, to say the least, but they were normally quite civil in their discussions; they did have to live under the same roof, after all.

"Has Horo bedded him yet?"

This time Yoh practically choked.

"What?! No!" The boy shook his head free of a whole army of unwelcome images. "Jeez, thanks for that. No. Far as I know, they've yet to so much as confess their profound love for one another. Well, _to_ one another at least."

Hao snorted lightly.

"What on earth does _love_ have to do with it?"

Yoh raised an eyebrow, still trying to dislodge the several stubborn images that still lingered in his fragile little mind. "Well, I'm gonna go out on a whim here and say…everything?"

"You poor naïve little child." Hao smiled, earning a scowl in return. "Girls occasionally convince themselves that they're in love – it comes from watching too many chick flicks or something, I believe. Guys on the other hand, are pretty much only after the one thing. Now, Horo Horo is, if you'd be so kind as to agree with me, a guy. And Ren, however effeminate he may be, is also a guy." The boy nodded to each of his subject in turn. "Ergo…well, you do the math."

His younger brother gave Hao a good long stare before divulging his careful diagnosis.

"…so, mom really _did_ drop you on your head as a child, didn't she?"

Hao shrugged lightly.

"Say what you please, little bro. It's all fact."

Ignoring the pet call, Yoh only shook his head.

"Maybe it's fact for your hollow self. Whatever's going on between the two of them seems pretty real."

Hao only snorted again in response.

"What, you never heard of _true love_?"

"Oh please, the blue head'd hump anything that moves."

"You sound pretty sure of yourself."

"Of course I do; he _is_ a guy, right?"

Yoh's eyes couldn't help but narrow at the remark; the guy was just using Anna, he'd just about stated as much. _Bastard_. He steeled himself against hitting the other boy and spoke carefully.

"Contrary to what you seem to believe, not all guys are solely obsessed with getting a fix out of someone. You know, some of us are _actually_ capable of human emotion."

"Oh really?"

Yoh gave an affirmative '_mhmm'_, his eyes still following the pair.

"Alright, you're on."

"…Come again?"

"I _said_, you're on. I bet that I can bag one of them before they get anywhere beyond _lip_ contact with each other."

Yoh scowled in bewilderment. "What the hell would that prove?"

Hao turned to look down at his sibling in an infuriatingly greater-than-thou manner. "It would prove, my dear little brother, that there is no such thing as _true love_– that we all simply follow the highest bidder. Once I show Ren that I'm willing, he'll drop any remnants of that snowball of his to crawl into my bed."

"Wait, Ren? I thought we were talking about Horo Horo?"

"What, Ren's a guy too – though admittedly, I can see why people might question the fact. Besides," Hao glanced at the boy before widening his eyes at Yoh in a meaningful manner, "I like them _fiery_."

_Oh I get it. First Anna, now you want to add Ren to your collection…jeez, how many hearts are you looking to break here!_

Hao just watched as his twin steamed quietly in his shell. Finally he sighed, sick of waiting to seal the deal.

"Look, if I get one of them I'm right, I win; it's as simple as that. If by some ill humour of the Gods the two idiots manage to run into each other first—"

"I want Anna back."

Hao raised his eyebrows. Then he grinned. So, Yoh was willing to play after all? Good. He always did prefer a challenge…

"You want Anna back?" he raised a curved finger thoughtfully to his chin as Yoh nodded diligently. "Hmm…alright. Fine. If this _love_ thing of yours checks out, I'll toss you the girl. But – what happens if I win?"

Yoh's glare rivalled bullets but Hao simply stood back and smirked. He took a breath to calm himself from attacking the taller boy. This was his chance, and like the circumstances or not he wasn't about to let it slip by. Furthermore, he knew exactly what his brother wanted to hear.

Glancing around to make sure there was no one to overhear the arrangement, Yoh lowered his voice and met Hao's patiently anticipating eyes. And with great calculation, he began.

"_If you win…_"


	4. Chapter 4

From 22/April/08

Chapter 04

There was only one lesson left to the school day, and boy was Ren happy about that. Ever since he had walked into the place that morning he had felt particularly volatile; a walking bomb, ready to explode at any minor provocation. That provocation generally being 5'8" and sprouting messy blue hair. By this time tired as hell, Ren leant his forehead against his locker door once he had closed it. _I just want to go home…_

"Boy, you look like you could use a stiff one."

Ren literally shot out of his skin. (Well, not _literally_…) The invasive voice belonged to the elder Asakura, who had appeared apparently out of nowhere, since the hallway was empty a moment ago, and now stood casually leaning against the locker next to Ren's, looking amused. Ren subconsciously took a step back, placing Hao on the preferred side of his personal space. Unsure of what the guy was doing there when they had not spoken in years, Ren took a haphazard stab at a response.

"Erm, I don't really drink."

Hao raised an eyebrow and smirked to himself before straightening up and taking a step towards the boy.

"That wasn't quite what I meant."

Hao had time to languidly move one hand towards him to tug playfully on the pendant hanging from a long chain around Ren's neck before the implications of his statement hit home. Ren's eyes widened. He could only stutter intelligently in response to the impossible situation.

"E-excuse me?"

It was around this point when he also noticed that Hao was still moving, slowly stepping forward so that Ren was forced to step back, angling him against the lockers. A moment later he was flattening himself against the barrier of metal in an attempt to push himself through it, his eyes wider than they have quite possibly ever been before. A single thought ran through his oh so very stunned mind;

…_What the __**hell**__ is going on??_

Meanwhile, Hao's next move was to place his palms on either side of the staggered boy and lean towards him, eyelids fluttering closed in a somewhat theatrical style as he went. _What the- time out!_ Alarm bells went off in Ren's head and he immediately sprung into action, ducking beneath one of the intrusive arms and swiftly moving to a safe distance before shouting at the boy in sheer disbelief.

"What the _hell_ do you think you're doing?!" Ren demanded, not overwhelmingly angry simply because he was still so utterly, utterly confused. He half fancied that he had accidently knocked himself out on his locker a moment ago and this was just a freakish nonsensical dream brought on by some gratuitous head trauma.

Momentarily taken by Ren's thrifty escape, Hao was now facing him again, this time grinning.

"What?" Hao said, noncommittal. "You looked like you could use some cheering up – and I've got the rest of the day free."

Ren was more aghast than before, and was beginning to doubt the stability of his hearing if not his mind.

"What...I…_what??_ Why would you even think I was into guys?!"

Hao snorted.

"With the way you and that blue kid have been carrying on recently? It doesn't take a genius. So how about it?"

Horo; it always boiled down to him, didn't it? Ren's short fuse finally started to catch up with him and his eyes narrowed.

"So what, you _like_ me? When you don't even know me?" - it was true, even back when they all played Shaman King and Hao would step in every now and then to play the villain he hardly ever spoke to Ren, much less indicated that he wanted to befriend the boy.

Hao only frowned, beginning to get irritated.

"What has _liking_ you got to do with it?" he looked genuinely confused and felt very much as though he was repeating himself. He tried another suggestive lopsided grin, but thought better than to accompany said grin with a wink; "Come on, it'd be fun…"

Ren stood a moment longer before wondering what the hell he was still doing there. His mind had gone blank from Hao's bewildering preposition; or maybe he was just very, very tired.

"You're a bastard, you know that?" Ren told him placidly, and with that he strode quickly and heavily down the corridor. _One more lesson_, he reminded himself. _One more_. Surely he could live through that without any more of his world turning on it's head.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

_Jeez, he really doesn't waste any time, does he?_

The art lesson had finished only fifteen minutes ago, and already it looked like Hao was laying the groundwork for their bet. Yoh had forced himself to keep an eye on the proceedings whilst mentally steeling himself against the sudden wave of nausea which came with the task. Part of the agreement was that neither Hao nor Yoh could directly interfere with each other's advances; that is to say, they could influence Ren and Horo all they wished, but Yoh couldn't, for instance, walk over to where his brother was currently pinning an unusually stoic Ren against a row of lockers and, for instance, punch his lights out. Yoh's mind travelled back to the stakes of the bet itself, and he gulped inadvertently. _It doesn't matter_, he told himself by way of reassurance, _nothing will go wrong so long as Hao losses – and that's almost a certainty…right?_ The dread Yoh felt in his stomach was entirely unfounded. _Besides_, he reminded himself with a rueful smile;_ Anna's worth the risk_.

Still he felt reassured when he saw Ren stalk away from his brother, grinning at that small triumph. He was right; there was no way either of those two would fall for Hao's tricks. _Especially not if I have something to do with it. _Which he most certainly would.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

What was wrong with people today? First his brother, and now this! _Why is everyone so concerned with this 'love' business?_ He didn't get it; _they're teenagers for crying out loud!_ He knew that his status was somewhat higher up on the cool scale, but surely there couldn't be this much of a class divide between himself and his brother's little friends. He knew, more than most of the people he socialized with, the extent to which being a teenager affected these sorts of affairs; example - he had been to dozens of parties where the girls (never mind the guys) gave away their 'affections' like so much cheap confectionary.

He watched after Ren as he rounded a corner and vanished from sight, and he couldn't help the smirk which accompanied the small stir of excitement within him. After all, he hadn't been lying when he had spoken to Yoh: he really _did_ enjoy a challenge.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Rounding to the other side of the school to where he thought Ren might be, Yoh was rewarded when he almost ran headfirst into the boy. Grinning sheepishly as he noticed the deadly scowl Ren was sporting, Yoh nevertheless reminded himself that he would have to bite the bullet if this whole deal thing was going to pull through.

"Hey, Ren! How are ya!"

His enthusiastic greeting was met with a customary suspicious glare.

"…what do you want?"

_He sounds more tired than angry_, Yoh noted with some gratitude as he fell into step beside the boy, his hands in his pockets.

"Just thought you could use some advice…about…erm, Horo."

Yoh watched Ren's face like one would watch an egg in a microwave; his lips had tightened slightly but overall he just looked like all he wanted to do was go home. Figuring that a tired Ren would make the conversation potentially less hazardous, Yoh cautiously ploughed on.

"So, uh, I was thinking; you should give him a break, you know? It's not really fair to shun him for doing one, admittedly thoughtless, thing; I mean, more than anyone else you know how absent-minded he can be." Yoh pleaded as they passed down another stretch of hallway. Catching sight of an all too familiar figure talking to a flock of students at the far end of the passage, Yoh altered his next trail of thought slightly; after all, it was always handy to have a safety net. "Erm…on the other hand, you don't want to seem too, uh, needy, or anything…"

Ren shot him a warning glare.

"See, what I _actually_ meant by that, was, that you might want to…play hard to get?" the glare wasn't going away; in fact, Ren looked very much as though he was thinking up the best way to dispose of Yoh, who in turn was beginning to feel a little nervous.

Luckily enough for him, the bell signalling next period decided to sound just as Ren appeared to make up his mind.


End file.
